Well, I'm still learning this whole DNA and GEDMatch 'thing', so please be patient with me. I have 3 DNA tests that have been uploaded to GEDMatch, which is a fascinating thing! If you haven't uploaded your raw data to GEDMatch, I'd highly recommend doing it. You're able to reference other GEDMatch numbers and see who's 'related' by generations. GEDMatch provides you with their email address where you can contact the person directly, and you can work to find what your connection to them is. It's fun and really interesting.

What is GEDMatch?According to Google - GEDMatch is a free service that helps you find even more relatives than 23andme's relative finder. That's because it also matches you with people who have uploaded their data from another genetics service called FtDNA (Family Tree DNA). This site puts information in a relatively easy to understand format. Take a minute and review this page and then you may understand...Why GEDMatch- https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2012/08/12/gedmatch-a-dna-geeks-dream-site/

​How do I get my info to GEDMatch?Once you've received your DNA from Family Tree DNA, Ancestry or 23andMe it's relatively easy. You would go to whichever service you did your DNA through. Find where it says download 'raw data' and save the 'raw data' on your computer.

FAMILY TREE DNA DOWNLOAD - Here's a site that'll help walk you through obtaining 'raw data' from Family Tree DNA: https://www.yourdnaguide.com/transfer-to-gedmatch/

ANCESTRY DNA DOWNLOAD - Here's a site that'll help walk you through obtaining 'raw data' from Ancestry DNA:https://www.yourdnaguide.com/transfer-to-ftdna/

23andMe DNA DOWNLOAD -I couldn't find a tutorial on how to download their DNA to GEDmatch and I don't have DNA with 23andMe, so I can't help, but I'm sure theirs is as easy as the others to download the data

Then, you'd go to GEDMatch.com, create an account and go to the area where it says 'upload your raw data'. Find where you saved your 'raw data' and click upload. Your information will be available on GEDMatch quickly (most likely within a day). Once it's there, go to town!

Here's a website with detailed info about uploading to GEDMatch if you need more help:​https://www.yourdnaguide.com/upload-to-gedmatch/​What do I do once my data is on GEDMatch?There are many different pages on GEDMatch, some are very deep and complicated and unless you understand this stuff (which I don't), you'll get lost in the menagerie of information. I like a few of the options, as they're understandable. Here are a few under the header "Analyze Your Data" - see below.

​​This is where you'll go to dig deep once your data is uploaded and ready to use.

​One To Many Matches - The One-to-many Matches report will provide a list of people you share chromosome segments with.

One to One Compare - ​The One-to-one compare utility allows you to look for chromosome segment matches between two people.

X 'One-to-One' matches - The regular One-to-many matches report only includes autosomal DNA (chromosomes 1-22), so to look for X-chromosome matches you can use the same report but you will need to change the selection from Autosomal to X.Use this report to look for any kits that share high amounts of X-DNA with you but little or no autosomal DNA. Such matches often don't show in the One-to-many matches report even if you do a descending sort on the X-DNA total. Cells shaded pink indicate that the largest segment is lower than the report's threshold. Be aware that you will need to match on quite a large segment of the X-chromosome to be genealogically useful, as X-DNA can be passed intact through female > male > female generations, so it may originate from much further back than you might expect. Do check and understand X-DNA inheritance though, as good X-matches can help you identify which ancestral line you connect on. Some 3rd and more distant cousins won't share any autosomal DNA with you, but you may still share some X-DNA.

Admixture / Heritage - ​GedMatch offers lots of options and several tools that provide a wide range of focus. For example, some tools are specifically written for European, African, Asian or even comparison against ancient DNA results. The population search option allows you to select a calculator that contains a specific reference population by searching for a string of characters in the population name (eg. 'aborig', 'british', 'swed'), or looking for available populations listed in the Wiki.Experiment with the different projects, calculators and Oracle options, and refer to the GEDmatch Wiki for additional information including acronyms, suggestions for calculators for particular ethnic origins, links to further information, and lists of the reference populations.As a start, if you have European origins you may like to try Eurogenes K13, for a more general overview try Dodecad World 9, MDLP K13 Ultimate or MDLP World-22, for Jewish ancestry try the Eurogenes Jtest, and for Asian origins try the HarrappaWorld project. The number in the calculator name indicates how many reference populations are included in that calculator, so the higher the number, the more reference populations are included in the resulting table and pie chart.

​Archiac DNA Matches - Compare your DNA with ancient samples. The Archaic DNA report will be shown with a 'heat map'. See if your kit shows any almost-orange rows and also check the red & blue heat map row at the bottom, which identifies segments that match across multiple kits. Then run One-to-one compare reports on the individual archaic kit number samples, which are available from the left column of the heat map itself.

One-To-One Comparison - ​This report shows you which segments of autosomal DNA (chromosomes 1-22) you share with your match. It produces a list of the chromosomes and the location(s) on the chromosomes. If run at the default thresholds (7cM and 500 SNPs), the text at the bottom of the report will include the estimated number of generations back to your Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA), as well as the total cMs shared and the largest segment shared.

When you do the One To Many, this is what you'll see after you enter your GEDMatch number into the box. It will list

Below is what you'll see after you click Display Results. It'll show everyone who has a match with you. The column I always look for first is the GEN column (in the middle). It shows the number of generations apart you are from each of the people's samples.